Below is the Federal Policy team’s weekly preview, posted when Congress is in session.
HEADLINES
• Coronavirus response is consuming Capitol Hill, as lawmakers race to complete an emergency supplemental spending bill.
• President Donald Trump will meet with pharmaceutical executives and later visit the National Institutes of Health.
• Tuesday’s 14 primaries represent perhaps the most consequential day in the 2020 presidential nomination process, as it has winnowed to essentially a two-man race between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, the latter newly energized after his blowout victory in South Carolina Saturday.
HOUSE
- The House will be in session today through Thursday. The agenda includes legislation to extend federal workforce protection to Transportation Security Administration officers; negotiators are also hoping to have a coronavirus supplemental bill ready for floor action this week.
- Trump’s cabinet will continue appearing for budget hearings, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
- The House Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection Subcommittee on Wednesday will hold a hearing on counterfeit products in online marketplaces.
- The full list of this week’s House committee activity can be found here.
SENATE
- The Senate plans to vote on a broad energy bill aiming to promote clean energy and grid modernization and security.
- Senate appropriators will hold hearings Wednesday with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.
- The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Wednesday will hold a hearing on big tech and China.
- The current list of Senate committee activity can be found here.
WHITE HOUSE
- Trump and Vice President Mike Pence today will meet with pharmaceutical executives on coronavirus, vaccine development and drug prices. Pence also is scheduled to hold a 5 p.m. news conference on the administration’s coronavirus response activities. Trump will travel to North Carolina for a campaign rally tonight.
- Trump on Tuesday will speak to the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference and visit the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
- Later in the week Trump plans to travel to Pennsylvania and Florida for campaign-related events.